5 Questions With… Briana James, President of Zeta Phi Beta

By IU Corps

As a service-based Black organization, IU’s Delta Epsilon Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. strives to uphold four principles — “Scholarship, Service, Sisterhood, and Finer Womanhood”—through service events, social gatherings, and philanthropy. 

The group volunteered at My Sister’s Closet in Bloomington on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this year (2023), which also fell on Zeta Phi Beta’s Founders’ Day, to promote service work and support initiatives that help women in need. 

Zeta Phi Beta President and public financial management major Briana James, a senior, said Black History Month serves as a reminder of how far the Black community has come and what the future holds.

Q: What is the importance of Black history in your work?  

A: We’ve made so much progress, but there’s still so much we could do in the community to really impact our generation and impact the Black and POC communities. 

Q: What else is the sorority doing during Black History Month this year?  

A: We co-hosted an event with IU’s Lilly Library Feb. 15 called Black ArchiveZ, a pop-up exhibition and lecture about the Black Panther Movement and the Panther Party. A silent film showing of “Black Power Mixtape” at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center followed the event. 

Q: What is something interesting about your organization?  

A: Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated has developed many new programs and achieved many firsts. We were the first Greek-letter organization to charter a chapter in Africa, to have both youth and adult auxiliary groups, to have a national headquarters and to be constitutionally bound to a brother fraternity — Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated. Those are the special aspects of Zeta because it shows that our founders were dedicated to making a greater impact to humanity and the Black and POC communities in particular. 

Q: How did you get involved with My Sister’s Closet? 

A: Our national initiatives greatly align with the purpose of My Sister’s Closet, which is to help women in poverty. It’s important to give back to the community in a way that reflects our organization. A woman statistically already makes less than the average man, which puts us in a hierarchy where women just need a little bit more support — especially women in poverty.

Q: How can people get involved with the work you do? 

A: Zeta Phi Beta hosts multiple events throughout the semester. To stay up-to-date, students can join Zeta Phi Beta’s email list by emailing Second Vice President and Social Chair Jade Hart at hartjade@iu.edu. Event fliers are also posted on our Instagram page, @de_zetas.